Aneet Padda, the actor who rose to fame with Mohit Suri’s Saiyaara, spoke candidly about her early hardships and the difficult path that led her to stardom. She described how, at the age of 17, she searched for auditions, encountered scam websites, and sent fifty to seventy cold emails to production companies, hoping to land a job.

The Saiyaara actress, now well-known alongside co-star Ahaan Panday, told Cosmopolitan India that she first became interested in acting at the age of ten after performing in a school play. She said the praise she received for her “weirdness” stayed with her. “At the time, I felt that acting was an interesting way of being ‘weird’ and one that was applauded,” she recalled. However, she began to doubt herself because her father and friends did not support her. “I told myself for a long time, ‘You are so foolish for even wanting to do anything about this.’ For a while, I didn’t dream,” she added.

As a youngster, Aneet searched for opportunities online because she wanted to leave her mark. She quickly discovered that many websites were fake. She chuckled as she recalled her early attempts. “My audition tape, a horrible biodata, and Snapchat filter pictures are in almost every production house in the Hindi film industry,” she said. Before learning that casting agencies usually manage such opportunities, she sent many cold emails during the pandemic to secure reliable work.

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Aneet made her debut with Kajol and Vishal Jethwa in Revathi’s Salaam Venky. She then played a highly praised role in the Prime Video series Big Girls Don’t Cry. However, Saiyaara truly thrust her into the public eye. The romance drama earned Rs 569.75 crore worldwide, making it one of 2025’s biggest hits.

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